


Wolf & Monkey

by HanaHimus



Category: Persona | Revelations Persona
Genre: Crime Fighting, Family, First Kiss, M/M, Television, Tiger & Bunny AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 05:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16056194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HanaHimus/pseuds/HanaHimus
Summary: Reiji Kido had decided to become a hero for the sake of his mother and son, nothing more and nothing less.





	Wolf & Monkey

**Author's Note:**

> I recently remembered how much I love Tiger & Bunny... And thus made an AU for it (one for most of Megaten, actually!)... And then got too tempted to not write for it. Tiger & Bunny is good, pls watch it...
> 
> Also characters that are minor/background are characters from other parts of Megaten... Featured in one section. They include: Rise Kujikawa, Nozomi, Hiroko, the Demifiend
> 
> Maybe I'll write another fic in this AU? Idk, this may be a one and done deal... We'll see

**Section 1: Hiring**

Reiji Kido had decided to become a hero for the sake of his mother and son, nothing more and nothing less. That’s what he had to remind himself when he was finally scouted and faced with the man willing to sign him on. If it was for his mother, he would work with a man who reminded him of the monster from his childhood.

“So, Reiji…” Takashi looked over his screen at Reiji. “You’re a hero with super strength, with feats often tied to stopping petty criminals or saving small animals.”

“Yeah… I was told that stuff was why you were thinking of signing me.” Reiji’s hands balled into fists, his stomach turning the longer he looked at Takahisa.

“It is, yes…” Takahisa looked back to his screen. “Some of it just doesn’t seem to line up with what a power-type NEXT would be able to do.”

Reiji swallowed hard, doing his best to stay calm. He needed to keep himself calm if he wanted this job. “T-that so? I dunno why that is, but… I’m just a power-type next…”

“Interesting… Perhaps you haven’t noticed how odd it is since you work alone currently.” Takahisa tapped his cheek. “Your partner, if you agree to the terms of the contract, might help you notice the oddities.”

With that, he slipped the tablet and its pen to Reiji, telling him to take his time and look it over carefully. Reiji didn’t do more than skim over it before quickly signing off on it, pushing the tablet back to him. If he thought about it too long, he wouldn’t sign on… If he didn’t sign on, his mother and Takashi wouldn’t be cared for.

“Seems you had your mind made up as soon as you came here.” Takahisa gave a smile that made Reiji’s skin crawl. “Interesting.”

“I’ve wanted to be signed on with a company for a while… Sir.” He practically spat out the last word. “Of course I had my mind made up.”

“Is that so?” Takahisa rose an eyebrow. “Well, no matter. It’s about time you met your partner.”

The door to the room opened as Takahisa pressed a button and in stepped another man. If Reiji was being honest, he didn’t see how he could be a hero of any sort. He was a pretty boy, looked more like some sort of idol than someone who’d get into the thick of battle…

But hey, what did he know? There were plenty of heroes that didn’t look like hero material. He probably just had some sort of elemental or mental based NEXT ability that made him a force to be reckoned with.

“Nice to meet you, Kido.” He held out a hand, giving him a smile. “I’m Naoya Toudou. I look forward to working with you.”

“Ah, yeah…” Reiji took his hand, awkwardly shaking it. “Guess you already know my name, huh?”

Naoya nodded. “I do, I was told ahead of time… Along with the three other guys they were considering for my partner.”

“So I wasn’t the only one, huh?” Reiji frowned. “I see…”

“That’s enough, now.” Takahisa turned his chair away from them. “Toudou, take Reiji to see his suit and chat about things then.”

“Uh, got it.” Naoya nodded, placing a hand on Reiji’s shoulder. “Let’s go, big guy.”

 

**Section 2: Family**

“Papa, when are you coming home?” Takashi’s little face was full of confusion and it broke Reiji’s heart. “Soon?”

“Sorry buddy, but no.” Reiji shook his head, though he was pretty sure his son couldn’t see him like he could see Takashi. “Papa just got a new job, one he’s starting tomorrow, so he can’t come home for a while.”

“That’s no fair! Grandma said you’d come home soon!” Takashi was pouting now.

“If I didn’t get the job I was going for, but I did get it.” Reiji sighed, he hated upsetting his son like this. “So Papa’s gonna stay in the city for a little bit longer.”

“No fair! I want Papa to come home now!” Takashi’s voice was raising in pitch the more upset he became. “Come home!”

“Takashi, buddy, calm down… You know your telekinesis acts up when you’re upset…” And his mom didn’t need to deal with that anymore than she had had to when Reiji was younger and that monster had still been in their life.

“But Papa…!”

“I’ll visit when I can, okay?” He couldn’t stand the fact his son was starting to tear up. “Just promise to be a good boy for Grandma until then, okay?”

“...Okay, I love you, Papa!”

“I love you too…” Reiji loosened his tie. “Now, how about you hand your Grandma the phone so we can talk?”

“...Kay!”

Reiji listened and watched as his son called Manami over, his mother making her way over just about as quickly as her legs could carry her. She took the phone from him, ruffling his hair and shooing him away before finally putting it to her ear.

“So, you’re going to be a hero, Reiji? Starting this coming season?” The worry was clear in Manami’s voice. “What company signed you on?”

“The… One that owns Hero TV Live… The CEO’s name is, uh…” He rubbed the back of his head. “Takahisa Kandori.”

Manami let out a gasp. “Isn’t that the name you looked into a years ago? When searching for answers about your father?”

“Yeah, the half brother…” Reiji sighed. “The one Yoshie thought I should try and ‘make room in my heart for’ back when I found out about him.”

Yoshie… He missed her...

Manami grimaced. “And do you think you’ll be able to do that?”

“I’m not sure… Yoshie pushed me to name Takashi after him and myself to help make it easier… But now that I’ve met the guy…” Reiji bit his lip. “It’s hard working for someone who looks just like that bastard, mom.”

“Oh Reiji, honey…” Manami’s face was covered with worry. “Don’t force yourself to work for him, if that’s the case. You can move in with us and--”

“No, Mom. I… I can do this. The money is good and I know you’ve been struggling, so I…” Reiji swallowed, hardening his resolve. “I’ll do it. My partner seems like a nice enough guy, anyway.”

“That so? I suppose that’s good news…” Manami sounded wary. “But know that you can come home whenever you want to, okay?”

“I know, thanks, Mom. I love you.”

“I love you too, dear.”

 

**Section 3: Suspicion**

“So… You have super strength too, right?” Naoya looked at Reiji with suspicion as they removed their hero gear.

It’d been about a month into the current season and the new hero duo of Night Wolf and Sun Monkey had been doing fairly well for the cameras, despite the ridiculously bad names (why Reiji hadn’t at least thought to look at what they’d call him, he didn’t know)... But it seemed things weren’t going to go well behind the scenes.

“I do, yeah.” Reiji nodded. “Thought you were told that when I was signed on to work with you.”

“It’s just, I dunno…” Naoya rubbed the back of his head. “It doesn’t seem like you’re using super strength to me. Your muscles don’t strain at all when you apparently pick up the stuff you throw… And you never take a criminal head on with your abilities.”

“If I don’t need to use them to punch a guy out, I’m not gonna use them.” Reiji shrugged. “I built up enough strength that I don’t have to rely on my quirk to do any damage.”

“I noticed… But it seems more like you buffed up because you _don’t_ have any power-type NEXT ability to help you out…” Naoya put a hand on his chin. “Then again, you get that blue glow…”

Reiji tensed, was Naoya really catching onto that? Dammit, why did his partner have to be a power-type NEXT and why did the exact power have to be what he faked having? It was just making keeping what the real ability was a secret harder…

“It’s just super strength, really.” Reiji shrugged. “I don’t like relying on on NEXT abilities all the time.”

“That still doesn’t explain why it doesn’t even look like super strength, Reiji!” Naoya took a step towards him. “What’s up with that?! Explain it!”

“There’s nothing to explain!” Reiji snapped. “I dunno why our abilities don’t act the exact same way and I really don’t care! We work well enough together that it shouldn’t even matter.”

“It does matter, though! If I’m second-guessing what you’re telling me, then our teamwork’ll go down the drain.” Naoya moved to put a hand on his shoulder. “If we’re going to work together, we--”

Reiji shrugged him off with a glare. “Don’t touch me!”

“Ah… Sorry…” Naoya took a step back. “I just want you to talk to me about this, I feel you’re hiding something from me… Aren’t we partners?”

“We’re partners, not friends.”

With that, Reiji made for the door. He didn’t even glance back at Naoya, despite the fact he could hear the other man trying to weakly protest his leaving. He knew talking too much longer would just lead to him breaking and spilling it all…

That was the last thing he needed.

“You know, I don’t think the other partners fight like this!” Naoya yelled after him after a while. “And Naoki doesn’t even have to deal with a grumpy partner! It’s not fair!”

 

**Section 4: Friends**

“Hey, Kido!” Masao grinned as he walked up next to Reiji. “It’s been a while since we’ve gone drinking together, huh?”

“Inaba…” He gave a small nod as he sipped at his drink. “It has been, yeah. My new job’s been keeping me busy.”

“You haven’t said much about that mystery job, have you?” Masao frowned as he took a seat. “Just that it has weird hours and that it makes seeing Takashi harder than ever.”

“Yeah, and that’s all you’re gonna know.” Reiji shrugged. “The less you know, the better. Believe me.”

“Sure…” Masao called over the bartender, ordering a drink before turning back to Reiji. “Kinda wish you’d trust me enough to tell me more, though.”

“I trust you plenty, but I also wanna make sure you stay safe. My job… Is the opposite of that.” Reiji really didn’t want to get into it.

“That so?” Masao thought for a moment. “S-so… Hero TV Live this season…! It’s been pretty cool… What do you think of those new heroes?”

“...No opinion on Night Wolf. Mixed feelings on Sun Monkey.” Reiji swished his drink around the glass.

“Really? I thought Sun Monkey was pretty cool!” Masao paused. “And Night Wolf sorta reminds me of you, for some reason.”

“No clue why.”

They sat in silence for a few moments after that, neither knowing what to say. Looked like things were gonna be tense for the rest of the night, just what Reiji didn’t want. Masao was one of his few friends and he didn’t want to mess that up…

“Do you mind if we sit here?” A woman’s voice his Reiji’s ears and he looked up, behind Masao. Standing there was a woman with a beauty mark under her lower lip, her hair cut short. And behind that woman… Was Naoya. What kind of luck was that?

“Uh, sure…!” Masao nodded. “Me and my pal here aren’t really talking much, anyway, so you guys sitting down and chatting isn’t a big deal or anything…”

“Thank you.” She smiled at them before sliding into the seat.

Naoya followed suit, after making it a point to smile and wave right at Reiji. What the hell was he doing? He was pretty sure the two of them hadn’t hung out after work every for a reason… And acting so casually friendly now was ruining that reason.

“You know him, Kido?” Masao rose an eyebrow, looking over at Reiji.

“He’s, uh…”

“We’re coworkers, partners at work, actually!” Naoya smiled, looking over at them with the smile still plastered on his face. “Wasn’t expecting him to be hanging out around here, though!”

“Oh, this is the coworker you’ve told me about?” The woman gasped as she looked Reiji over. “It’s nice to meet you! You seem less grumpy than Naoya-kun always said you are!”

“That so?” Reiji shot Naoya a glare before looking back to the woman. “But, uh, nice to meet you too. I’m Reiji Kido.”

“Maki Sonomura, a pleasure.” She giggled a bit, tilting her head to the side. “So, you’re both--”

Before Maki could finish what she was saying, Reiji’s and Naoya’s communicators went off, signalling them to another job from Hero TV. Well, shit… Looked like drinking with Masao was getting cut short, then.

“Sorry, gotta go… Something came up for work.” He stood up, throwing some money down on the counter. “We’ll hang out some other time, Inaba.”

“I gotta go too, see you later, Maki! I promise we’ll catch up soon!” Naoya stood right after Reiji, following the other man for the door. “Call me later so we can reschedule!”

 

**Section 5: Truth**

Reiji could feel himself falling apart every day he was around Naoya, and seeing as what their job was, that was basically every damn day. He had thought the few free days off from work would do him well to get over this hurdle, he could go home and see Takashi and Manami… Take his mind off the lie he was keeping up…

But that’s when he’d opened the door to find Naoya waiting for him, looking apologetic for even being there. Reiji had wanted to slam the door shut, go out the fire escape instead just to avoid him… But he couldn’t even bring himself to move.

“Is this a bad time?” Naoya scratched his cheek, giving an awkward smile. “I was thinking we should spend more time together when we’re not fighting people, so…”

“It is kinda a bad time. I was gonna go see my son, get out of the city for a while, you know…?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I, uh, have a lot to think about.”

“That so…?” Naoya crossed his arms. “Second-guessing the hero stuff, Kido?”

“No, just… Things about it are stressing me out and I want to try and figure out what to do about it.” Reiji sighed. “I really don’t wanna get into it.”

“Well, unless it has to do with me, don’t you think you could talk to me about it?” Naoya tilted his head to the side. “We’re partners, after all… So if I can help you at all…”

Reiji opened his mouth before letting it clamp shut. He didn’t know if it was because he was so tired of hiding it, or because it was so early in the morning, or just wanting to get shit off his chest… But he was really tempted to just spill the truth and the situation surrounding it.

“I don’t have super strength.” The words spilled out without warning and his hand flew up to cover his mouth. “I… Uh…”

“I knew it!” Naoya put his hands on Reiji’s shoulders and gave a smile. “Your stuff didn’t look anything like super strength! But… What is your ability, then?”

“My ability is telekinesis.” Reiji realized there was no real turning back now. “I just… Don’t want to become the telekinesis guy, so…”

“Well, why not?” Naoya frowned, grip on Reiji’s shoulder tightening. “Telekinesis is a ridiculously useful power, by lying you’re limiting yourself!”

“Yeah, but I don’t wanna be like… Like my father. He had the same damn power and the way he used it…” He swallowed hard. “If my mom and son didn’t need more money, I’d never use my ability, it makes me sick…”

“So pretending it's something else makes it a little easier?” Naoya frowned, hands falling away from Reiji’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize your real ability came with so much… Uh…”

“Baggage?” Reiji offered with a sigh. “Yeah, well… I guess you know now and can stop bothering me about it, so…”

“Don’t worry, Kido.” Naoya smiled at him, though Reiji was pretty sure it was forced. “Your secret is safe with me. And, uh… Now that I know, don’t feel you have to hide things from me, okay?”

Reiji paused for a minute. “Okay.”

“I’ll leave you be for the rest of our days off, since you have to go see your kid and all, but let’s hang out more when you get back, okay?” Naoya gave him a small nod before turning on his heel and walking away. He didn’t even wait for Reiji’s response, huh?

“...Okay.”

 

**Section 6: Coworkers**

“I’ve never seen you two acting so buddy-buddy before.” Naoki grinned at Reiji, an eyebrow cocked. “What changed?”

“None of your business, Mister King of Heroes.” Reiji looked away with a scoff. Last person he wanted to hear that from was the one guy who wasn’t partnered up with anyone.

“Actually…” Nozomi looked over from the treadmill. “I’m curious about that, too! You guys never seemed to spend much time together outside of when we’re live, but now you’re always chatting.”

“He probably just warmed up over time!” Rise giggled. “We all know Wolf isn’t exactly the friendliest hero around!”

“Let’s not talk about me like I’m not sitting here, okay?” Reiji rubbed the back of his head. “But really, that’s about it. I warmed up to him.”

“I don’t know if I should say how nice or too bad…” Hiroko tapped a finger against her arm as she approached. “I mean, if you two get along better, your teamwork might improve…”

“Which means more chance for them to get points, doesn’t it?” Nozomi laughed a bit. “Well, that’s okay! Just means we’ll have even more fun in this friendly ol’ competition.”

“She’s right!” Rise jumped up and down a bit. “The more we all put into this, the more fun it is, don’t you guys think?”

“Good point…”

Naoki huffed. “Sure, but is that fair to me? Not like I have a partner to get closer to or anything like that.”

“And you’re so far ahead of us that it really doesn’t matter, does it?” Reiji frowned at Naoki as he stood up. “It’d take second and third place combined to even get close to you, y’know?”

“Sure, but if you all get buddy-buddy enough I really could be in danger.” Naoki put his hands on his hips. “Then again, if you guys just accept the idea you’ll never get anywhere…”

“What?” Hiroko looked at him. “You think that’ll make it to where you stay on top or something?”

“I mean… If you doubt yourselves…” Naoki shrugged. “What else would end up happening?”

“...He’s a got a point, you know?” Rise huffed and kicked at the ground. “Self-doubt can keep up from getting much farther than we’ve already gotten.”

“...Shit.” Reiji finally moved for the door. “I can’t hang around talking about this kinda stuff. Takashi’s probably waiting for my call right now…”

“Takashi?” Nozomi tilted her head to the side. “Who’s that.”

Reiji blinked a few times. “My son. Haven’t I mentioned him before…?”

Hiroko shook her head. “This is the first time any of us are hearing about you having a son!”

“Ah…” He scratched his cheek. “Guess I only mentioned it to my partner, then.”

“...Damn.” Naoki whistled. “You guys really are getting along a lot better than at the start.”

“You think so…?” Reiji hummed to himself. Huh…

 

**Section 7: Kiss**

Reiji and Naoya had been spending a lot more time together than Reiji had ever expected. To think that Reiji had been so tense around Naoya for a while, all because he didn’t want his real NEXT ability to be found out…

“Y’know, I wouldn’t have expected this when we first met.” He held up his beer. “Celebrating the end of the season in your apartment, I mean.”

“Yeah? I guess we got off to a pretty rocky start, didn’t we?” Naoya laughed a bit. “Though I guess it’s a good thing past you didn’t expect this. Makes it more exciting.”

“What’s so exciting about us drinking beer?” Reiji rose an eyebrow.

“This itself isn’t exciting, but it’s exciting to think about what we can do with each other in the future.” He leaned in closer to Reiji, a smile on his face. “This is really just the start of our relationship, my friend.”

Reiji swallowed hard, licking his lips. He hadn’t felt this urge, this want to get intimate, since before his wife had died… But now Naoya was leaning against him, lips pressed together (almost as if inviting him to come even closer), all their bonding these past months sitting in the back of his head egging him on.

“Naoya.”

“Hm?” Naoya tilted his head to the side. “What is it, Reiji?”

After just one more moment of pause, he leaned forward, pressing their lips together. It was brief, awkward, and almost more embarrassing than his first kiss with Yoshie… But the rush of emotions that hit him after made it more than worth it.

“I… Uh…” He leaned back, looking away. “Sorry about that. You were just so close and I…”

Naoya put a hand on Reiji’s shoulder. “Lucky me that you made a move, huh?”

“What?” Reiji looked back over, brow furrowed in confusion.

“I’ve been thinking about doing something like that to you for a while now… But you have a lot on your plate as is. I didn’t wanna pressure you into romance or something…” Naoya rubbed the back of his neck. “So you doing that is… Really lucky for me, don’t you think?”

“Ah…” Reiji’s face went red. “Yeah, lucky.”


End file.
